Game Description:Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter, high-intensity military video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. Set to release on November 9, 2010, CoD is the 7th installment in the legendary Call of Duty series. A sequel to the developer's previous title in the series, Call of Duty: World at War, Black Ops is the first one set during the Cold War era and is a much grittier game than Modern Warfare 2.
The two main characters that the player assumes the role of are Mason and Hudson, Studies and Observations Group operatives on missions behind enemy lines. They will fight through varying time periods and several locations, including: the Ural Mountains, Laos, Cuba, the Arctic, and Vietnam as footsoldiers. An impressive feature for players who close in on an enemy is a melee attack, ensuring a one-hit-kill. A new mode, the Wager Matches, will allow players to gamble with their money. A separate ranking structure from the standard online modes will be used for players seeking to be one of the top three (the only ones that receive the prizes).

Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Reveal, Part Deux

By
Christopher Monfette
- Posted Sep 02, 2010

If you read our hands-on preview of the recent Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer reveal, you might have a vague sense that we’ve only just scratched the surface. And you’d be right. There is, indeed, much, much more to say. The teams at Treyarch and Activision have loaded Black Opswith more multiplayer features, game modes and customizable gear than we’ve seen in any deathmatch pile-up in recent memory. While history will ultimately determine whether this online go-around with CoD can give Halo’s multiplayer a run for its money, there’s certainly enough here to keep diehard death-dealers challenged.

We’ve already told you quite a bit about Combat Training (a welcome, artificial alternative to actual people), CoD Points and Wager Matches (finally, a place where I can gamble on human life), Contracts (as if the constant cycle of headshots and tea-baggings wasn’t already challenging enough) and the Theater (for celebrating your victories or becoming the star of another player’s virtual snuff film). We’ve gone over Killstreaks, emblems, loadouts and perks. We’ve killed; we’ve been killed. And still there’s more to say….

But before we dig deeper into the maps and gameplay modes through which we offered up our inelegant, curse-laden pwnage, here’s a look at our trigger-happy experience and a brief glimpse at how we took our own ops from pitch black to blood red:

There’s virtually nothing that can doom even the most fully-featured multiplayer game than a poorly designed, badly balanced set of maps. Alternately, a strong set of unique arenas can make the difference between a solid game and a title that consumes your life and ruins your marriage. Having glimpsed four new levels of Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cracked, Radiation, Launch and Summit – we’d venture to say that the verdict is still out on this latest chapter in the franchise.

Of the four we played, three consisted of military-style locations, remote bases offering a variety of close-quarters and out-in-the-open combat. While the corrugated metal facades and flickering retro tech became a bit repetitive from level to level, lacking the distinct visual motifs seen in Modern Warfare 2’s High-Rise or Quarry, each level featured some first-rate design elements, not the least of which is a massive nuclear weapon mid-liftoff. Here’s a quick breakdown of what we played:

Radiation: With the exception of a small outdoor area flanked on two sides by railings and ledges – the perfect vantage from which to fire down on your friends – Radiation is largely a close-quarters map, set against the dimly-lit hallways of a military industrial space. In the center of the map, a set of blast doors and radiation vents lead down into a sub-surface series of passageways. A conveyor belt can help launch players back up to the surface with a well timed jump, so long as you avoid falling into the churning grinders below.

Summit: A second cousin to Modern Warfare 2’s snowy submarine level, Summit offers up a high-altitude, ice-laden complex for a nice combination of indoor and outdoor combat. While not as sprawling or expansive as its distant relative, a multi-level interior command center with tall, vaulted ceilings offers a reprieve from the cold outside. But if you’re the type who likes to hole up in a tight, quiet sniping position, keep an eye out for a ski-lift boxcar you can reach with a perfectly executed leap.

Cracked: Perhaps the most visually distinct of the four levels we played, Cracked offers up a sun-baked city in absolute ruin. Surface and subterranean levels merge seamlessly as sunken streets descend into the basements of collapsed buildings. Small gaps between blown-out, brick-and-mortar walls allow for straight-on sniping locations while thru-lanes and alleyways set the scene for some cat-and-mouse machine gun action. Flaming vehicles and some eye-catching graffiti offer a dash of personality.

Launch: The night’s loudest “Holy sh*t!” moment came courtesy of Launch. As we emerged from an in-door firefight, muzzle-flare lighting the darkness, a high-pitched wail cut the gunplay. The cacophony of bullets was instantly swallowed up by the sounding of an alarm that could signal absolutely nothing positive. As our enemy demonstrated a clear inability to absorb bullets with his cranium, we spilled out into the daylight, sirens blaring, to discover a massive nuclear missile thrusting itself in a fiery display toward heaven. Sadly, however, we’re told that there’s no way for players to perch atop the bomb as it rises from the silo below, although there’s no scenario we can conjure greater than the kamikaze glory of sniping down on your opponents whilst riding a bomb into space.

One of the game’s most impressive touches is the way in which the new modes immediately change the ideal strategy for each map. While all the old favorites are present – Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, etc. – the four new Wager Modes provide a completely original, and often significantly more intense, gameplay experience. Combined with the ability to gamble your CP on the likelihood that you’re much better (or suck much less) than your enemies provides a totally new feel to CoD’s mulitiplayer action.

Gun Game: Likely my favorite of the new Wager Modes, Gun Game truly tests your proficiency with each weapon. Beginning with the most basic and ascending to the most powerful, the mode will provide you a new weapon with each kill you make, reaching its crescendo with the ballistic knife and the explosive crossbow. You’ll have to factor in elements like reload times and rate-of-fire as you go head-to-head with similarly armed enemies. But there’s a catch in that being knifed will set you back a weapon, so use your blade strategically on those with a more powerful arsenal than yours. But watch your backs…

Sticks and Stones: This mode is more about the money. Players are provided the crossbow and the ballistic knife along with a single Tomahawk. A kill with either the bow or the blade will earn you a good bit of wealth, while an expertly tossed Tomahawk will bankrupt your enemies and set their earnings back to zero.

Sharpshooter: A play on the Gun Game mode, Sharpshooter cycles every player in the match through each available weapon in timed rounds, ensuring that everybody on the board is carrying the same loadout. A minute with the pistol, a minute with the rocket launcher, and your strategy can never, ever remain static.
One in the Chamber: This might certainly be the most challenging (read: frustrating) of the new modes if you’re not a deadshot, straight-between-the-eyes marksman. Players are given a pistol, one bullet and three lives. Kill a dude and grab their bullet; miss a shot and you’re left with only your knife…with which you could cut the proverbial tension provided by this pulse-pounding game-mode.

And with that, we’ve officially scratched the surface of Call of Duty: Black Ops’ multiplayer component, but after a few hours of blastin’ fools, we’re convinced that there are dozens…and dozens…and dozens of hours to come. Check out the brand new Wager Match trailer and start brushing up on your headshots because Black Ops is rapidly approaching...

Comments are Closed

I know who the host was, we got to watch the host play with their bull crap advantage and automatic headshots, that the host is privy to. Nothing looks any different to what we are use to. Oh and if you payed attention, the guy was given his normal automatic knife kill even when the opponent was off screen. CRAP!!

looks like a photocopy of the noobish fail mw2. where is the radioactive spit weapon, or the zombie cats? 6 year old ADD boys will go wild for it though. adult gamers were already burned 60$ on mw2. will they be fooled twice?

your website is a piece of crap, i cant watch vids because i accidentally said i was born in 2010 and now 3 days later i still cant watch vids because i cant change it............................ ......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHH I HATE YOU

i gotta say i was EXTREMELY disappointed by the reveal. treyarch made it seem like there was this massive reveal and we'd all have all kinds of coverage and it'd be live and we'd all have every kind of question we had about MP, answered. BS! BS! and BS! they had the reveal, and if you were there i am sure you learned a lot about the game and got a better feel for it and if it was going to live up to your standards. but many of us were not there and after it was all done, there was what... 3 or 4 good quality videos and half a dozen blury/shakey videos? my point is they made it seem like the reveal was for all the fans and players but really it was just for anyone attending. i saw small portions of three maps, some guns and heard about more guns but didn't get to see many in action. i just hope they are following through on the game and it is as good as the small pieces i have seen, look. in my experience treyarch has a tendency to hype things up a lot and ride infinite wards wake.

First thing's first, if you can't spell correctly you shouldn't leave a comment because it makes me feel almost as dumb as you. Secondly, everyone complaining about game modes and why can't it be this or that, like Halo or BC2, and too much camping....... blah blah f'ing blah. If you don't like the game don't buy it, it's pretty simple. If you consistently get raped every match in MW2 try another game. If it's not fun anymore but you still play it every night, Stop! YOU ARE AN ADDICT!! Anyone that says "semtex was useless in MW2" needs to learn some skills and practice more ( try turning the controller right side up). "It looks like they ripped off Battlefield bad Company 2 and Halo"... really?? Where would Halo and Bad Company be without Counterstrike and old(er) games like that?? Calm down, relax and crack a soda pop kids because Black Ops is gonna be sick as hell and it's going to be huge. If you have ever played Counterstrike (and I am sure most have) you will scoop this up in a heartbeat. The rest will buy Halo because they think force fields are "sweet" and still believe in aliens, Santa, and the Easter Bunny.

game looks sick. im a big fan of CoD so im really lookin forward to all the awesome features. wager games look hella cool. i deffinatly dont think that you should b able to play with freinds in wager matches. and yea there will be ALOT of camping especialy with the camera spike... thats a little cheap but a good concept. it should b higher than just a 3 killstreak though.